NASA’s search for Earth-like planets around other stars took one major step forward Wednesday night when the agency’s TESS exoplanet hunter received a smooth ride into a high-energy transfer orbit atop a SpaceX Falcon 9

NASA’s pursuit of Earth 2.0 will have to wait at least another two days for a critical search asset to head into orbit as the launch of the Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite (TESS) atop a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket was delayed from Monday to provide time for additional Guidance, Navigation & Control System analysis.

The International Space Station received a pair of new external science facilities and a potentially critical spare pump module over the last week and a half through an extensive effort involving the Station’s robotic duo extracting the items from the Trunk Section of the Dragon CRS-14 spacecraft and moving them to their respective installation locations on ISS.

It circled the Earth in obscurity for more than half a year, now the X-37B OTV-5 space plane has been conclusively identified by amateur satellite observers in a circular orbit 356 Kilometers in altitude.

A SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket fired up atop the company’s Cape Canaveral Air Force Station launch pad on Wednesday for the customary static fire test ahead of entering final preparations for liftoff as early as Monday with NASA’s TESS exoplanet hunter

Still covered in soot from a previous supply run to the International Space Station, a SpaceX Falcon 9 took to the skies over Florida’s Cape Canaveral Monday afternoon – lifting a flight-proven Dragon spacecraft into orbit for a critical delivery of science gear, supplies and maintenance hardware to the orbiting laboratory as the first of at least six cargo ships inbound to the U.S. Segment of ISS this year.

A flight-proven Falcon 9 – the ninth of its kind to take flight – lifted off from SLC-40, Cape Canaveral Air Force Station at 20:30:38 UTC on April 2nd, 2018 with the Dragon SpX-14 spacecraft, a previously-flown Dragon with 33 days of spaceflight experience.

A flight-proven SpaceX Falcon 9 – the eighth of its kind to take flight – leapt of its Pacific-side launch pad at Vandenberg Air Force Base at sunrise on Friday to loft the fifth set of Iridium-NEXT communications satellites into orbit and take the largest constellation upgrade in history one step closer to the finish line.

A previously used Falcon 9 booster came to life at Florida’s Space Coast on Wednesday in preparation for the launch of the first U.S. Space Station resupply mission of the year, set for a Monday afternoon liftoff ahead of a two-day chase of the orbiting laboratory by the flight-proven Dragon spacecraft.

The planned launch of the fifth set of Iridium-NEXT satellites atop a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket is being delayed from its planned launch slot on Thursday at the request of the customer to deal with an issue with one of the ten Iridium satellites set for launch.

A previously-used Falcon 9 booster soared to life at California’s Vandenberg Air Force Base for its Static Fire test ahead of lifting the fifth set of Iridium-NEXT communications satellites on Thursday, marking the start of a string of Falcon 9 missions lined up for March and April.